Endgame (Scömìche)

2. Charade

Scott & Mitch wake up in a warm tangled mass of limbs, to loud banging on the door of Scott's hotel room.

"SCOTT! Wake up!" They hear Esther yell from the other side of the door. Then more quietly, mostly to herself, "Why is no-one answering their damn phones?!"

Mitch and Scott stare at each other in a panic. "Bathroom!" Whispers Scott sharply, untangling himself from Mitch, who scrambles out of bed and lurches towards the bathroom, still bleary with sleep. He catches his shoulder on the doorframe as he passes and Scott hears a hissed expletive as the bathroom door closes.

"Hang on!" Yells Scott, grabbing Mitch's phone from the bedside and shoving it under a pillow. He catches sight of Mitch's clothes strewn on the floor, grabs them quickly, opens the bathroom door and throws them in, getting the briefest glimpse of a slowly blinking Mitch sat on the bathside rubbing his shoulder. He slams the bathroom door shut again and runs over to open the other door to a visibly pissed Esther.

"What the hell is up with everyone this morning?! Why aren't you answering your phone?! The bus was supposed to leave forty minutes ago!

Scott rubs the side of his face, grimacing slightly. "Umm.. it's dead... sorry. Forgot to charge it."

"Oh God, whatever, at least you're here!" She glances behind Scott at the two tripods still holding their lights and video camera. "Get dressed and pack up all your filming shit; we've got half an hour and I can't delay things any further. Do you know where Mitch is?"

"Huh?"

"Mitch. Grassi. Male, Caucasian, excessively sassy, yay high," she says, holding her hand out just above her eyeline, sarcasm dripping off each word. "He's not answering his phone either and he's either sleeping like the dead or AWOL. Did he hook up with someone last night?" Scott looks flustered, attempting to stutter some kind of response, but Esther cuts him off. "Never mind, I'm heading back to his room now. I'll have to let myself in and grab his stuff... " She sighs, "It's a Tuesday isn't it? Nothing ever goes to plan on a Tuesday."

"Um... Sorry, Es.", says Scott, still reeling, brain not fully engaged.

"Ugh! Be in the lobby by 9:30!" She jabs a finger into Scott's chest before turning and striding out towards the elevators.

Scott suddenly remembers that since the Vienna incident, Esther has insisted on having duplicate keys to all their rooms. She's going to find Mitch's room without him in it, Crap! But Mitch's room is two floors down; and the elevators in this hotel are the slowest he's ever encountered.

Scott slams the door and dashes to the bathroom to find Mitch in much the same position and mental state as before, but at least this time he's wearing clothes, even if the purple Vetements turtleneck is on inside out.

"She's heading to your room! Take the stairs, go!"

Mitch startles, runs into the main room and swipes his keycard off the dresser, He looks around frantically. "Phone?!" He hisses at Scott, who dashes to the bed, extracts Mitch's phone and slaps it into the other boys waiting hand. "Go!" Mitch dashes out the room and Scott hears the stairwell door crash open, followed by frantic footsteps.

Mitch reaches his room and fumbles with the door lock as he hears the elevator ding. He slams the door behind him, exhilarated that he's won the race and hurriedly undresses, flinging his shoes and outer clothes into a corner of the room. As a sharp series of knocks echo on the door behind his head, exhilaration turns to panic as he realises that his room is pristine. Like, fucking immaculate. It's obvious no-one's slept here; he doesn't even have any of his luggage, forgetting that they checked in late and went straight to Scott's room to film Sup3rfruit. Another knock. Shit.

"MIIITCH!? Are you alive in there?! It's Esther! I'm coming in!"

Fuck! He dives for the bed, fighting the ridiculously tight sheet and not really managing to free it sufficiently; the end result being him pinned awkwardly under it, barely able to move.

The door swings open and Esther takes in the scene; daylight flooding in through open curtains, the room apparently empty except for a small pile of clothes in one corner. She almost misses Mitch for a moment; his slim body barely noticeable under the covers; only his head visible. Mitch is staring at her with wide eyes and a quite frankly crazed expression. It's more than a little unsettling.

"Uh... you okay there Mitchy?"

"Fine! Yes! Fine! Hi Esther! Is it time to get up?!". He sounds far too cheery, manic even, and he's panting, slightly out of breath.

Esther rolls her eyes, bemused but glad that he's at least here. "Bus leaves in twenty-five minutes!" She turns on her heels and yells back as the door swings shut, "If you miss it you're making your own way to Amsterdam!"

Mitch squeezes his eyes shut and mutters to himself. "Oh, well done Mitch, that wasn't weird at all." He huffs, extracting himself from the bed and walks to the corner of the room to dress again before dashing back up to Scott's room to grab his stuff and change.

Scott and Mitch walk out of the hotel together, pausing by their tour bus to hand suitcases over to the minion packing them in the underside of the vehicle. They climb into the communal area of the bus, shoving their hand luggage under two nearby seats.

Esther appears with coffee, placing two takeaway cups down in front of them.

"Oh, You're an angel, Es; we don't deserve you!"

"Damn right you don't", she says curtly, clearly still annoyed with the morning's chaos, and turns to walk back to the driver who's slapping the satnav screen and swearing. "Fucking Tuesdays," they hear her mutter.

Mitch and Scott sip from their respective coffees, smiling at each other with their eyes. Scott sits down and pats his lap, Mitch climbing onto it sideways, an arm around the back of Scott's neck, heads close so that they can speak privately in hushed tones. "Well, doesn't someone look happy? Spill the oolong, gurl!"

Scott smiles broadly. "I might have hooked up with a certain someone last night." He waggles his eyebrows.

"Yeah? Was he hot?"

"On. Fire."

"Yeah?"

Scott's eyes crinkle as he looks at Mitch adoringly. Avi and Kevin, seated on the opposite side of the bus, both with headphones in, pay them absolutely no heed, other than a few brief and slightly grumpy comments about their tardiness.

"What do you think we'd need to do to actually make them see that something's changed between us?" Says Scott quietly. Mitch shrugs and leans in close, whispering: "I think I'd need to have your cock down my throat or up my ass."

Scott splutters into his coffee, choking, eyes watering.

"You alright there Scotland?"

"Jesus, Mitchy", says Scott recovering, wiping tears from his eyes with a finger "You will be the death of me!"

"Ohhoho, you have nooo idea," Mitch grins back.

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Well, I'll be honest, I'm not exactly sure what that was... it sort of wrote itself!